Bleach* Launch

It was a dazzling night of free alcohol and lots of dancing. I'm talking about the official launch of Gold Coast's Bleach* Festival. Held at Arts Centre Gold Coast we met for the compulsory meet and greet prior to a bizarre, yet entertaining, performance by the Inaugural Annual Dance Affair who showcased a few humorous dance routines squeezed in while hosting the event.

We were treated to a few short performances by acts that are a part of this year's Bleach Festival programme, including a wonderfully weird performance by The Farm. They showcased an outstanding level of athleticism and skill but I questioned their skit involving the Mayor and a bear suit; I'm not really sure what happened…

The best part of the night for me was having The Cheap Fakes up on stage accompanying each performance. They stood on stage in suits like a band at a prom but it matched the corny feel of the night. The ended the night with their own set while people lingered back out to the open bar. Funny enough, however, a decent sized group stayed behind on the dance floor to enjoy the set.

Attending this event was a pleasing eye opener for me to see that the Gold Coast does have a strong arts community. Having recently moved to the Gold Coast I've been searching for signs of arts, music and culture and trying to edge my way into that community so that I know what is going on and when it's going on. I've missed that aspect of living in Brisbane, but attending the Bleach* Festival launch gives me hope that I can be a part of this community, here, on the Gold Coast.
The first step in doing that is to attend some of the wonderful and creative events held in every corner of the Gold Coast at Bleach* Festival 2016.

Falls Festival 2015/16 @ Byron Bay

The Falls Music And Arts Festival made its annual trip to Byron Bay last week to welcome in 2016 with a stellar strong line-up, a water park and a Captain Morgan’s ship. Arriving as a Falls first-timer I was eager to soak up as much as possible in the three days ahead of me. I was initially blown away by how relaxed everyone was; staff and crowd included. Everyone was there to take it easy and take care of each other and that made a huge difference to the overall experience.

After pitching the tent I was off to see Bullhorn to mark my first Falls Festival act. I had heard the murmurings of Bullhorn around Brisbane but was eager to check them out with my own eyes and ears. They were a great band to open the festival with and set the scene for the coming days. For an earlier, smaller band, they managed to pull a crowd as they played and had every person watching and moving along with them. Bullhorn’s MC, Roman Albert, was extremely energetic and interacted with the crowd really well but also had an impressive and versatile vocal range and freestyle ability.

Bullhorn

Later on in the day I manage to catch Art vs. Science’s set in the amphitheatre. Their set was very similar to the set I saw at Splendour In The Grass a couple of years ago and also their set at Big Day Out a few years before that. There’s no doubt they have a lot of energy on stage but they just seem to use it in the same way each gig. They pulled a strong crowd who were quite familiar with their older repertoire, however their newer tracks didn’t translate as well live on stage.

Following Art Vs. Science were Peking Duck who definitely got the crowd moving again. Their set lacked continuity and was very random. It followed the classic ‘30 seconds–drop–30 seconds–drop’ formula that left fans struggling to keep up with their erratic push-playing and they eventually lost interest part way through the set not long after Peking Duck whipped out the Lion King soundtrack (which was later repeated in Disclosure’s set). Peking Duck’s original material was more popular among the crowd than their remixes. They also brought along some confetti canons, which are always a good way to impress.

By this time, we were ready to say goodbye to 2015 and hello to 2016 and to help us do that were The Wombats. Initially I was surprised they were the New Year’s Eve act as opposed to other headliners such as Bloc Party or Birds Of Tokyo but I was definitely impressed. When I saw them at The Tivoli a few years ago they were silly, in a lovable way, and just having fun. Now, on the main stage of Falls Festival counting down to the New Year, they were serious, fun and comfortable. They performed a flawless set with hit after hit familiar among every person in the crowd.

The Wombats

Entering the second day of Falls it’s important to note how good the sound was. I can confidently say that it’s the best sound of any music festival I’ve attended with the live amphitheatre offering well-balanced sound from the top of the hill right to the front of the stage. It made the whole live music experience a lot more enjoyable. 

Withstanding the heat on day two was Courtney Barnett. Although we were glad there had been no rain, the ground was bone dry and there was a cloud of dust surrounding us as we danced to Courtney’s set. Her vocal performance was spot on but she was the first act I had seen to encounter a wee bit of feedback.

Courtney Barnett

New Year’s Day was coming to an end and Rüfüs was there to prepare us. Their set was transfixing and got everyone on their feet. They gave a great original performance and left me impressed. Vocalist Tyrone Lindqvist had a limited vocal range but it suited their style. The crowd were very familiar with their work and sung along with most songs.

Me with Bloc Party

Rounding out the day was Bloc Party with an up and down performance. This was the one performance of the event that suffered negatively from sound issues. Although not an easy band to dial in sound wise, their sound was particularly thin in tracks without the second guitar present. It was an overall quiet start but the sound did improve as they played on. Bloc Party played a variety of new and old songs but not a lot of material from their albums in between. It was very evident that the crowd lost interest during their newer tracks as some translated better live than others. It was obvious that Bloc Party didn’t tailor their set for a festival stage – true Bloc Party style - and their set would have gone a lot better at one of their own gigs. I have a feeling the audience may have been left disappointed by expecting more from such an iconic band. They did bring out their fair share of “bangerz” however, as the crowd busted some moves and fell in love with Kele’s charm.

Bloc Party

Entering our final day at falls started with Gang Of Youths. Evidentially worn out from two tours in the past six months, David Le’aupepe’s voice was suffering but that didn’t stop him from throwing himself into his performance, literally. One thing I noticed when I saw Gang Of Youths live a few months ago was that they just loved what they do and that was still obvious months later. They played a strong, tight set that many enjoyed.

Gang Of Youths

Later on in the evening were Foals. They had a huge crowd with many popular tracks. I was honestly surprised to see such a huge turn out for them. They had the biggest mosh-pit of the festival and everyone seemed to know their songs. Their music ranged from indie-pop to hard rock so it’s no wonder it appealed to such a large audience. The biggest thing to note about their performance was their beyond crazy light show; it was insane!

I finished off the festival with Django Django at the Forest Stage. The sound in here was also very good, in fact, even better than the amphitheatre. They played at the same time as Disclosure so they didn’t have a huge crowd but it was a mixture of loyal fans and people who didn’t know where they were. Their font man, Vincent Neff, was eccentric but kept everyone interested as they played a fun and energetic set with more crowd interaction than expected from a band in their genre. I don’t think I had ever danced so hard and it made for a great ending to The Falls Festival 2015.

Django Django

It was a great few days and the biggest piece of advice I have to give to future Falls goers is to wear sunscreen, because sunburn really ruins your time. There is never a shortage of things to do at Falls Festival including the array of market stalls, bars, comedy, movies and arts in The Village. If you make the most of your time at Falls you won’t be disappointed, but how could you be disappointed with a line-up this strong.

Me!

See more about my experience at Falls Festival HERE.